Author: Sam Hobbs

With a forecast calling for an early preview of summer, Andrew, Elliott, and I decided to take advantage and ski Little Tahoma on Sunday. We made it to Paradise around 8:30, and were soon walking down to Fourth Crossing to start the tour. Unfortunately for us, I had been to Cowlitz Rocks once before and we had started at 4th crossing on that trip, so I opted to repeat that same route. It was only later that we realized how easy it would have been to skin up to Golden Gate and cross over to the Cowlitz there. Oh well, what’s an extra couple hundred feet of vert on top of the 7k+ we were planning on?

 

The skin up to Mazama Ridge was firm but easy, and we made great time up to Cowlitz Rocks, arriving around 10:15. After a quick transition we were skiing down the already very soft snow towards the toes of the Whitman. We contoured across the moraine at around 6300 ft and we easily found steep but straightforward gullies to ascend. Elliott was leading this section and made the decision that switchbacks were lame, so I got to use the highest risers on my bindings for more time than I have during the rest of the season combined. Around 12:00, we crested a small moraine and stood at the base of the expansive Whitman Glacier with a clear view of Little T and Big T.

The view from Cowlitz Rocks saddle. Cathedral rock in the foreground, Little T in the back.

The view of Cathedral Rocks during the crossing of the Cowlitz Glacier.

Looking up the Whitman Glacier. The route goes out of picture to the right and ascends the large snowfield on Little Tahoma.

The next 1500 ft section was one of the more enjoyable stretches of skinning I’ve ever had. Easy rolling terrain, incredible views, and a light breeze to keep you just cool enough made a great combination. Soon enough we were at the base of the steep headwall of the Whitman. We skinned as high as we could, up to about 10,600 ft, and then booted up to about 10,800 where we stashed our skis and some extra gear. Another 100 ft of booting led to a short rock step with one tricky move, although trying to avoid kicking rocks down on your partners makes even the simple moves tricky. One more short section of snow led to fun, albeit rotten, rock scrambling up the summit ridge. The first view over to the North side of the ridge will certainly get your attention – both for its beauty and exposure. Once on the ridge, a short (~25 feet) traverse got us to the true summit block a little before 4:00. While the scrambling up to the ridge and the traverse to the true summit are exhilarating, Andrew and I both felt comfortable climbing and down-climbing in ski boots.

Our last bit of skinning before switching to booting.

Andrew downclimbing the traverse to the summit block. Another party chose to rap down to the snowfield rather than downclimb. The timing was the same either way.

Andrew on the top.

All that was left was a short boot down to our skis, 4300 feet of incredible corn skiing, 900 ft of skinning back to the Cowlitz Rocks saddle, and a leg-piercing descent/traverse to Golden Gate by 6:30. This tour makes for a long day but the scenery and fun scrambling at the top are definitely worth the effort.

Andrew and Mt. Adams after the incredible corn skiing.

GPS link with cool map feature Andrew made:

https://powersa.cartodb.com/viz/fe564d02-05dc-11e6-88d2-0ea31932ec1d/public_map

 

Peaker Tim and I met in Ashford and headed up to Paradise for our powder meeting. With more than a foot of fresh snow forecasted, I was skeptical that the plowers would have the gate open on time so we opted for a lazy start time. Arriving to Paradise at 10am, we were surprised (and psyched) to only see about 15 other cars.

From paradise we set out on the trail staying east of Alta Vista and eventually made our way to a place on Mazama Ridge that is labeled “Golden Gate” on the map. That label seemed a little out of place as we made our way up to the ridge. We were setting off small wind slabs and getting pounded with wind and snow. As long as we stayed off the wind loaded side of things the stability was good and the snow was even better – we’re definitely not in early season up high anymore. So, we skied down to ~5500 ft, took another lap, then went back to the car to dry. All in all a great day to welcome winter back!

Tim womping

 

Tim does the split board side step

King Peaker David and I set out for Rainier with the intention of trying to find some relative solitude away from Paradise. We tossed around the idea of Pyramid Peak but premonitions of bushwhacking and being lost pointed us towards a clearer objective – Van Trump Park.

We followed the trail along the smooth granite (?) walls of Van Trump Creek past Comet Falls. Just under an hour of hiking brought us to continuous, soft snow and we started following a skin track up to the park. The recent snow was a welcome sight, although it made for tricky skinning conditions getting up to the park. Underneath the recent ~4″ was a firm crust that enabled the top layer to slab off easily but with no propagation. Once up to the mellow angles above treeline skinning conditions improved and we headed up the mellow, rolling ridge that divides the Van Trump and Kautz Creeks.

Without a real destination we decided to stop at a flat spot around 8,000 ft with some of those fine rock seats that the volcanoes offer. After taking in the view, a beer, and some pizza we transitioned and started down. For the most part we just retraced our skin track, ducking down either side of our ascent ridge to try and find the best sliding surface. We encountered many different types of snow during the descent – pockets of wind-deposited pow on leeward aspects, hot pow on sunny aspects, icy spots on ridges, and finally grabby pow down low. I carried my skis once (David rode) and we were back at the shoes and began the hike out. 45 minutes of walking and a Rainier tall boy later we drove past the gate with almost an hour to spare.